Public Statements

Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, Republicans stand for health care reform, and there are a number of things that we think should be a part of it.

Number 1, we want good intelligence. We want high technology so that Americans can figure out what are the best procedures, who are the best doctors, who are the best providers, and what are the best prices. We think we should take advantage of all the IT that is out there.

Number 2, we want medical savings accounts. We believe that the market should be put into action so that people can save money and be incentivized to put some of that money in their pocket if they don't spend it by the end of the day.

Number 3, we don't believe that health care decisions should be made by insurance companies, HMOs or Washington bureaucrats.

Number 4, we believe there should be less frivolous lawsuits. We certainly want to protect the tort laws in America, but we don't want frivolous lawsuits.

Number 5, we believe the patient-doctor relationship should be preserved and that we should not have a Brit-Ðish-, Canadian- or German-style centralized government planning where the doctor-patient relationship is destroyed.